“Speculators are buying up baskets of candidates and hoping a few actually turn out true,” said
Kevin Foy,
director, global head of sales trading at Maybank Kim Eng Securities, a brokerage in Singapore. Many buyers have been encouraged by a few high-profile deals in which companies were taken private in the past year, he said.

This month,
Keppel Corp.
took its Keppel Land Ltd. unit, a property developer, private in a US$2 billion deal. Last year, developer CapitaMalls Asia Ltd. was taken private by parent
CapitaLand Ltd.
in a deal valued at US$2.5 billion, while Singapore Land Ltd. was acquired by United Industrial Corp. for US$600 million, according to Dealogic data.

Renny Tan,
a 31-year-old Singaporean who describes himself as extremely active in the Singapore market, said he invested around 12% of his personal portfolio in mid-January in the stock of property developer Wing Tai Holdings, which has since risen by as much as 24%.

“Never in my wildest dreams would it go up like that,” he said. Mr. Tan said he bought Wing Tai shares because he thought they offered good value compared with other listed companies, rather than to speculate on possible mergers and acquisitions.

“There is no way to know about that, but one thing I know for sure is that those people who are doing M&A, they are pretty smart guys and they will want to buy as cheap as possible,” he said.

Many analysts are also enthusiastic about the sector. RHB Research said in a note that take-private deals, or privatization, often mean a windfall for investors due to the premium offered by the acquirer to entice minority holders to accept the offer.

Keppel Corp., for example, bought Keppel Land at a 25% premium on its trading price at the time of the offer.

In its note to clients, RHB identified six property companies it thought ready for acquisition. Wheelock, Wing Tai and Ho Bee Land were among them, as well as
Hong Fok Corp.
,
Great Eastern Holdings Ltd.
and United Industrial Corp.

“It may happen this year, next year or some point in the future. But we think it will happen,” RHB said of a potentail deal involving United Industrial.

Others are less sure, arguing that investors could be throwing money at overvalued stocks during a downturn. DBS Vickers Securities, for example, wonders “whether Wing Tai is rising for the right reasons,” arguing that “the rumored delisting of the company will not happen.”

Mr. Tan, however, said he wants to hold on to his Wing Tai stock despite the recent run-up, arguing that it is still good value.